India announced a landmark LPG purchase deal with the United States even as President Donald Trump backed a bill that would sanction countries purchasing Russian oil and gas by up to 500 per cent.
Trump warned on Sunday that any country doing business with Russia would be “very severely sanctioned”, as his administration and Republican lawmakers advance tough legislation targeting Moscow.
“They’re passing legislation… the Republicans are putting in legislation… very tough sanctioning… on any country doing business with Russia. They may add Iran to that… I suggested it,” he said.
“So any country that does business with Russia will be very severely sanctioned. We may add Iran to the formula,” Trump reiterated.
A bill introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham proposes a 500 per cent tariff on secondary purchase and reselling of Russian oil. The proposal has near-unanimous backing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The legislation still has some distance to go. Senators Graham & Richard Blumenthal, who first introduced the bill in April 2025, said in a joint statement Sunday that “the ultimate hammer to bring about the end of this war will be tariffs against countries, like China, India and Brazil, that prop up Putin’s war machine by purchasing cheap Russian oil and gas.”
